Little Elbow Recreation Area

It was Sunday, the sun was shining and the temperature was slowly rising and we headed towards Highway 1 and the Bragg Creek exit onto Hwy 22 and then onto Hwy 66 the Elbow Falls Trail. We were heading for an area we hadn't been to before and which we wanted to visit before the road was closed for the winter. As we headed southwest towards the Little Elbow Recreation Area the temperature dropped a little and the road conditions became decidedly a little more icey - the car went into 4 wheel drive mode and a couple of bends were given due care and attention. We found the trailhead parking almost by accident as the road in front of us was already closed for the winter. The car park was busy; several horse boxes took up a lot of space - outfitters taking paying customers out for a little upmarket camping!

There were a number of walks starting from this trailhead, some following the river with information boards ours was a little different as it was up rather than along the river. The camp site, now closed for the winter months, looked comfrotable with picnic tables and BBQ pits. The compost toilets, were clean and well maintained, just as you would expect on any hikes in the mountains.

We were heading for the Nihahi Ridge, we were not quite sure of the the conditions which might await us. There had been snow during the week and the path might be too icey or treacherous to navigate ... we would see. The Nihahi ridge is a product of the McConnell Thrust and the start of the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains themselves. Its stark cliffs contrast with the more gentle slopes of the foothills to the east.

Our route would take us along the Little Elbow Trail by the Elbow River, along narrow root filled trail through the forest. The switch backs here are well graded and before long we found ourselves in the open meadows with the snow covered balding Nihahi Ridge opening out in front of us and with it views of snow covered mountains. The sky was blue and the sun shone, off came the gloves and the hats and we even unzipped our jackets!

We found the ridge afforded more views of high mountains as the route gave us gentle sections in betweeen steeper climbs. For once we had the camera.

We left the last 300metres for another time as it was a scramble and we decided that snow and ice were best left.

We enjoyed our hike and as we decended we enjoyed the views of the mountains on the other side of the river Mount Glasgow, Mount Cornwall amongst them all reminding us of the hikes we enjoyed in the U.K. Our return journey towards Hwy 1 was in glorious sunshine, the ice and snow which had greeted us in the morning were gone. We were afforded views of other hikes we wanted to do, but they depended on the weather and whether we would be able to ascend them before the winter road closures!